Full name | Sporting Fingal Football Club | ||
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Nickname(s) | The Fingal, The Ravens | ||
Founded | 2007 | ||
Dissolved | 2011 | ||
Ground | Dalymount Park, Morton Stadium (Capacity: 4,000) |
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Chairman | Gerry Gannon | ||
Manager | Liam Buckley | ||
2010 | 4th (Premier Division) | ||
Website | Club home page | ||
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Sporting Fingal Football Club (Irish: Cumann Peile Fine Gall Spórtúil) was a professional football club based in Fingal, County Dublin, Ireland. The club competed in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland from 2008 to 2011. Former Shamrock Rovers manager, Liam Buckley was the club's manager while former Arsenal player, John Devine was the head coach. Sporting first played their home games at Morton Stadium in Santry, and had intended to move to Dalymount Park at the beginning of the 2011 season.[1]
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The concept for the club was effectively created by Fingal County Council as part of a long-term development plan for soccer in Fingal.[2] The ultimate goal, was always to enter a team in the League of Ireland as well as the construction of a centre of excellence to the north of Swords. The plan was accelerated by the sad demise of Kilkenny City from league status giving Sporting Fingal the opportunity to gain membership ahead of schedule.[3]
The consortium of backers were Twinlite, a property development company,[4] and Keelings, a fruit and vegetable distributor.[5][6]
Sporting was founded in 2007 and was officially launched on 11 February 2008.[7] The club was expected to play its first full season in 2008 in the newly founded A Championship, however instead they took the place of Kilkenny City in the League of Ireland First Division with Kilkenny dropping out of the League of Ireland.[8] They had a successful 2008 season eventually finishing third in the League of Ireland First Division.
In December 2008, the club announced it was increasing its budget for the 2009 First Division season. Fingal had a massively successful 2009 season. They gained promotion to the Premier Division overcoming Bray Wanderers 4-2 over two legs in the promotion-relegation play-off. Fingal also ended the season as FAI Cup winners overcoming Sligo Rovers in the final, scoring two late goals to win 2-1. In doing so they qualified for the UEFA Europa League.[9][10]
Fingal were drawn against Portuguese side CS Maritimo in the Europa League. This was to be Fingal's first ever game in European competition. The first leg was held in the Estadio da Madeira, and Fingal were on the end of a 3-2 defeat. The two away goals scored by Fingal gave them a better chanced of advancing against Maritimo than many had hoped. The second leg ended also with a 3-2 defeat against Maritimo, in which Fingal was eliminated from the Europa League.[11][12]
The club completed their first season in the top flight in 2010 with a credible fourth place finish, five points behind champions Shamrock Rovers. For the 2011 season Sporting Fingal were to play their home games at Dalymount Park.[13]
On 3 February 2011, the club revealed serious financial problems after they confirmed that they have been unable to pay their players' wage bill. The statement blamed the current situation on 'a number of commitments which would be crucial to its viability have, in very recent days, not materialised'.[14] On 9 February 2011 the future of the club remained in doubt after the Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland (PFAI) released a statement confirming that the club has cancelled the contracts of its entire playing staff.[15] On 10 February 2011 the directors of Sporting Fingal FC confirmed that the club withdrew its application for a licence from the FAI to participate in the 2011 Airtricity League season.This decision was taken after funding targets integral to the club's continued existence were not reached during the off-season.[16][17][18]
It was announced that Fingal County Council would be building a new sports complex in Lusk. Sporting Fingal were expected to play games at the complex, which would contain a 4,200 all-seater stadium, upon its completion with the option of future expansion to 12,000. The complex would also have state of the art training facilities and would be available for use to sports other than Association football. It is not now clear if the venue will have any football tenant.[19]
Season | Competition | Round | Country | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
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2010-11 | UEFA Europa League | 2. Qualifying Round | Marítimo | 2-3 | 2-3 | 4-6 |